Donor Decisions: Why Solid Blue fans give blood

“My grandmother and my father both had cancer and I had a cousin that was downs syndrome,” said Creech.

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Dan Pollock’s in the middle of an almost hour long wait for his 66th blood donation.

“I started donating blood after 9/11 back in 2001, realized it’s a very small sacrifice for me. I had a wife pass away from cancer who needed a lot of blood, so I figured this is kind of paying it forward,” said Pollock.

Their donation will help save lives, but it could also give Solid Blue fans some extra bragging rights.

“People in Kentucky like to beat Florida. We just do. And people in Florida apparently like to beat Kentucky,” said Denise Fields with the Kentucky Blood Center.

The annual Big Blue Slam blood drive with Florida is in its 11th year. With t-shirts added in to motivate people to give blood, some donors have noticed a larger crowd than usual.

The competition, while fun, is also making a huge impact on the Kentucky Blood Center.

“This time of year is particularly difficult because there’s colds and flu, people aren’t able to donate because they aren’t feeling well, and then when winter weather comes in, it’ll cancel blood drives, it makes it impossible to get to donor centers,” said Fields.